Recruitment Matters International

Friday, 18 December 2015

Q: How do I increase my chances of a tender being successful? A: Submit it twice

Give your client an unfinished pitch or tender – they will love it. People like to be in at the start of something good, they like to get stuck in and get their hands dirty and they love looking at the finished product to be able to say “Great result, and I helped achieve it!”

If you are asked to tender for a place on a PSL or for an exclusive assignment, then send the client an early version of your tender, saying “These are our early thoughts - I’d love your input so that we can be sure if we are on the right track. You want something that you know is right for you - not something that I hope may be. Can you have a look at it and let me understand if there is anything I need to add or amend before I work on producing the final draft to meet your deadline date?”

When you send through the final draft and they read it next to your competitor’s ones which recruiters tender do you think they will feel most comfortable with and anticipate receipt of most?

Thursday, 17 December 2015

Sometimes what a candidate says can tell you one thing and their body language something quite different. Is it possible to read someone’s body language accurately? The answer is probably no if you are simply looking for text book “arms crossed - defensive”, “hand over mouth - lying” type movements. The vast majority of those ideas are gross generalisations. What if the cross armed person was simply feeling chilly or the mouth covering person was disguising a cold sore? Well that’s those theories out of the window then!

Reading body language has got far more to do with observing changes in someone’s body posture & behaviour. Spend five minutes at the start of an interview making the person feel relaxed when talking about something in their comfort zone. Test what they look like when discussing things they are passionate and knowledgeable about. Thereafter, you can compare their relaxed, confident and open state with changes further into the conversation.

We all know that it is what someone says plus how they say it and their body language that paints the full picture. So watch their body language, listen carefully to their answers and get a feel for how they says things (tonality, pitch, volume, speed) and the changes along the way and you will have a far more accurate assessment of a candidate’s suitability.

Write a “to do” list every day and always do it in advance the night before. If you arrive late in the office the following day or something crops up first thing, you can pick up on the key issues of your day as soon as you hit your desk.

It’s also a great way to finish off your day if you have done well. Strive to do better during the next day, and congratulate yourself on the successes you have had, leaving you on a high.

If you have had a bad one, then it’s nice to draw a line under it and then go home, rather than come in the next morning to go over it all again, starting your new day negatively.﻿

It’s not always harder to find someone at £60k than £20k – in fact, sometimes it may be the opposite. So why charge the client more?

The message that scaled charges gives out is that you will work for a lesser fee and you are asking for the client to negotiate down. If, as an example, you charge 15% on salaries up to £19,999 and 17.5% on salaries between £20,000 and £39,999 – what happens when one candidate earns £19,950 and one earns £20,250? You and I both know which rate the client will want to hold you to regardless of going over the next level!

The word ‘pester’ shares all of its letters with the word ‘persistent’. That’s the only similarity. Phoning the client every week if they would prefer every two months will quickly condemn you to voice mail. On the other hand, phoning every two months if they want every two weeks will make them think you don’t care about them.

So, the simple solution is to ask them.

“Mr Client – how often would you like me to be in touch? The last thing I want to do is appear to be pestering you and by the same token I don’t want you to think you are not important to me and my business by seemingly ignoring you. So how often do you think is appropriate at this stage of our working relationship?”

Then, when you get the answer, increase your chances of success by following up with:
“That’s great. So we don’t end up missing each other, are there better days of the week than others and better times of the day…. When is our best chance to catch each other?”

Wednesday, 16 December 2015

The market is tight for high demand low supply candidates. It always is but never like now in recent years. Therefore it’s ripe for recruiters to play hard ball from time to time. So you need to hold clients to their side of the bargain. Be strong with them. If your client has agreed that they will respond to a presented CV within 48 hours then, firstly, say to them “If I haven’t heard back from you within 48 hours should I take it as a ‘no’ to my candidate?” They will more than likely say “Oh, no, please do double-check with me.”

You now have the perfect opportunity to put pressure on them and if 48 hours or more elapses, start chasing. “Tom, it’s Warren - I’m awaiting feedback from you about Candidate X . I’ve told him I would be back to him tonight at the latest as you gave me a 48 hour deadline and I’ve allowed 72 hours for any hiccups. He’s looking at other options through another recruiter so we need to move fast. Can you call me back please? Thanks.”

One hour a day every working day makes up a staggering 240 in a working year. That’s equates to 6 weeks in the year. So when you are at work, what are you going to do with any particular hour? Abuse it, lose it or use it well. It’s your call. Want to hit target? Or do even better than that? How best are you going to use every hour – or, imagine if you put in an extra hour? Wow!

About Me

Welcome to Recruitment Matters International's Blog

Please feel free to add comments, share your ideas and generally discuss all things related to the recruitment industry. Check out http://www.recruitmentmatters.com/ for all that is good for recruiters.